Posts Tagged ‘time’

Another day of Z2 was planned today. For those that may not know, Z2 is riding at below 75% of my FTP – in my case I’m able to ride at 210 watts and stay in my Z2 – unfortunately today I went outside of that number and was closer to 220 watts for my ride today. Couple that with an extra 20 minutes (110 minutes total today) and I could possibly be a bit tired tomorrow but we will see. My goal still remains to be to improve the base of time and miles that I am riding. Then as the weather warms I will be able to add shorter more intense workouts back into the mix to build speed. As I build the base I will start with 1 minute efforts and then build them a minute at a time until they reach a 5-10 minute mark. Once I reach those times then I can continue to increase the intensity of those intervals. All while still riding a higher base set of miles each week. At least that is my goal.

Food was excellent yesterday with a 300 calorie deficit at the end of the day. Keeping calories up while in the build phase is helping to not be sore the next day. Plus I am timing the carbs later at night which has helped me ride all of these rides during the week in a fasted state. Then on my weekend rides I am sure to fuel up before and during the rides. I believe this was a key ingredient to the improvement I saw on my 40+ miles on Saturday. I kept checking my Garmin bcz my power was so high compared to what I was expecting it to be. aaaahhhhh the power of carbs!!

Food today so far is going well – lots of fresh fruits and then beans and a potato for lunch. I’m kind of a sucker for beans with potatoes – I throw some hot sauce on them and bam – high protein, high carbs and low fats. Plus I get a ton of fiber from it as well, which helps for feeling full. Still holding steady on weight even with the increased time on the bike – but I did eat almost 3500 calories yesterday and almost 4000 the day before – yum!!!

I’m back!! It’s been way too long since I last put my finger on a keyboard and started typing out where I am. I’m still not sure about all of this actually. It’s kind of a tough thing to do and stay on top of with everything else I do. But like anything else, if I want it to be then I have to make it happen. I’m not sure if I will be a full-time blogger (nope) but I want to get things going again and start writing about my journey.

So what’s been happening?

Well on a high note – I’m still plant-based. Yup it’s now been over 2 years now and I’m still eating plants. Who would’ve thought I could give up burgers and cheese…

How’s it going? OK. I’ve experimented with a couple of fueling strategies over this past year. The first was a high protein way of eating – 1g of protein for every lbs and then managing fats and carbs. This led me to a lot of powders and bars. At first I was advised to have higher fat numbers along with the high protein but it saw me gain 10+lbs and not drop much in the way of fat. I did put on a bunch of muscle which is nice for the mirror but not for the cycling world.

What did you do about it? Well, I was slow to react, believing what I was being told that my body would turn a corner and burn off the fat. This finally led me a month or so ago to switch back to a strategy that I first went plant-based on….. Just eat whole foods and lots of fruits and veggies.

Any changes? Yes a ton! I’ve lost 6-9lbs. (depending on day) so far and feel great all the time. Well that except when I revert back to some vegan junk food I’ve used once in a while.

Anything else? Totally!! My workouts are better than ever as well. I just set my best 5 minute and 10 minute functional power thresholds and all this only a few months after recovering from my broken bones.

Wait, what? Broken bones-did you crash? Yes I sure did, in a big way. I broken my left collarbone and two ribs on my left side as well. Those injuries had me off the bike for a month. Now I’m back and ready to get back to a whole new level.

So that’s where I’ve been lately. I’m hoping to keep this blog up and maybe even add more content if I can ever figure out how to do it. Want to help me?? Please, please, please??